Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Emissary
| next = "Past Prologue" }} "Emissary" is the two-part premiere episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It is the third live-action ongoing series in the Star Trek franchise, and the fourth series in total including Star Trek: The Animated Series. The episode was directed by David Carson and written by series creators Rick Berman and Michael Piller. It first aired in syndication on January 3rd, 1993. The series boasts a brand new cast characters and stars actors Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Siddig El Fadil, Terry Farrell, Cirroc Lofton, Armin Shimerman and Nana Visitor. Also joining the regular cast on the series is Colm Meaney as Chief engineer Miles O'Brien. O'Brien was a recurring background character on Star Trek: The Next Generation where he worked as the transporter chief on the [[USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D|USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D]]. Also from NextGen fame, actor Patrick Stewart makes a guest appearance on the episode as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. The series takes place on the eponymous Deep Space Nine space station and is the first series in the franchise to use a static setting rather than taking place on a starship. Fans of NextGen will recognize some familiar extraterrestrial races such as the Ferengi and the Cardassians, but the series also introduces brand new alien cultures including the Bajorans and the shape-shifting Changelings. Synopsis Part I Commander Benjamin Sisko is assigned by Starfleet as station commander of "Deep Space Nine" in orbit of Bajor, previously used by the Cardassian Union during its occupation of the planet, now repurposed to help Bajor to enter into the Federation. Sisko is resentful of the duty, having lost his wife Jennifer three years previously during the Borg attack at Wolf 359 and destruction of his former ship, the USS Saratoga, and worried about the well-being of his teenage son Jake while on the station. When he and Jake arrive, they find the station nearly stripped bare of unessential systems by the Cardassians, and the Bajoran staff, led by Major Kira Nerys, distrustful of Starfleet's presence. As the USS Enterprise delivers more Starfleet staff, including Chief Miles O'Brien and his family, Sisko becomes more despondent of the position as he gets his final orders from Captain Picard, the man Sisko holds responsible for Jennifer's death. Sisko informs Picard of his intent to drop out of Starfleet to seek a civilian position in a few years, but continues to perform his job as station commander. With the help of Odo, the station's chief of security, Sisko manages to convince the Ferengi barkeeper, Quark, to remain aboard the station, helping to keep the station as an active waypoint for ships as well as providing Jake a friend in Quark's nephew, Nog. He later visits the spiritual leader Kai Opaka on Bajor, who shows him the Orb of Prophecy and Change, one of several similar orbs believed to be sent by the Bajoran Prophets. Sisko looks into the Orb and finds himself reliving the moments when he met Jennifer for the first time. After his vision, the Kai tells Sisko that she believes him to be the "Emissary", a messiah figure who will help Bajor, and gives him the Orb to study further. When Sisko returns to the station, he finds the rest of his staff has arrived, including Chief of Medicine Dr. Julian Bashir and Science Officer Lt. Jadzia Dax, whom Sisko happily recognizes as a Trill and the current host of his former friend Curzon Dax. Sisko gives Dax the Orb to study for a scientific explanation of the way it works. The station is soon visited by its former commander, the Cardassian Gul Dukat, who insists that he is seeking a way to regain his position and office back on the station, and remains in his ship parked in orbit near the station. When Dax discovers that the Orb is related to several phenomena near Bajor, Sisko recognizes that any investigation will tip off the Cardassians, and arranges for Odo to use his shapeshifting abilities to disable the Cardassian sensors. With the Cardassians unable to detect them, Sisko and Dax take a runabout to the location of the phenomena and discover the entrance to a stable wormhole leading to the Gamma Quadrant. Thrilled at the discovery, the two attempt to return through the wormhole but become stuck by some force inside it. Sisko and Dax are exploring the strange environment revealed inside the wormhole when Dax is suddenly sent away, appearing moments later on the operations deck of Deep Space Nine, while Sisko remains in a white void. Part II Dax quickly relates their findings. Kira, recognizing the value of the stable wormhole to Bajor's future, orders the staff to move the station close to the wormhole's mouth. Gul Dukat, having repaired his sensors, follows the station and discovers the wormhole himself. Dukat enters the wormhole, but when the station's staff tries to follow, they find the wormhole entrance no longer open. Cardassian ships begin to arrive at the station, questioning the disappearance of Gul Dukat and dismissing the claims of a wormhole. After requesting help from Starfleet, Kira attempts to hold off the Cardassians' by altering their sensor reading to appear that the station is heavily armed. The Cardassians eventually see through the illusion, and prepare for an assault. Sisko, in the meantime, finds that he has encountered entities in the wormhole who speak to him through images of his wife, friends, and crew members. The "wormhole aliens" question Sisko's corporeal and linear existence, and explain that they become disrupted when such beings pass through the wormhole. They become further enraged when Gul Dukat's ship attempts to pass through, and forcibly close the wormhole and disable the ship. Sisko attempts to explain how his kind thrive on their linear existence, but the entities point out that he continues to return to the moment of Jennifer's death. Sisko comes to the realization that he has been grieving over the loss of his wife and explains this to the aliens. The Cardassians begin their attack on Deep Space Nine, but just as the shields fail and Kira prepares to surrender the station, the wormhole opens up again, with Sisko in the runabout towing Gul Dukat's ship out of it. On Gul Dukat's orders, the Cardassians stop their attack and depart. Sisko reveals that he was able to negotiate with the wormhole aliens to keep it open and allow ships to pass through. When the Enterprise arrives in response to Kira's earlier call for help, Sisko informs Picard that the wormhole aliens have helped him to overcome his grief about Jennifer's death and to move on, and that he plans to remain station commander indefinitely. Wikipedia article Cast Starring Guest Starring Co-Starring Notes & Trivia * Production code number: 40511-721 * Stardate: 46379.1 * "Emissary" is the 245th episode out of a total of 727 of all Star Trek series episodes combined. * The basic premise of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is similar to that of the science fiction TV series Babylon 5, which aired in syndication from 1994 to 1998. Both programs took place on a space station which was designated with a numeral and they both catered to the needs of travelers and diplomats of varying races. * This episode was adapted into a novelization written by J.M. Dillard based upon the teleplay by Michael Piller and the story by Piller and executive producer Rick Berman. The novel was published by Pocket Books on February 1st, 1993. It was also released as an audio cassette and CD by Simon & Schuster Audio and first released on April 1st, 1993. The CD was released on February 3rd, 1997. The audio book was narrated by DS9 series regular Nana Visitor. * This episode originally aired between the "Chain of Command (Part 2)" and "Ship in a Bottle" episodes of [[Star Trek: The Next Generation, which took place during season six of that series. * Director David Carson directs four episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in total. His next episode is 1.8, "Dax". Carson has also directed four episodes Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as the 1994 feature film Star Trek: Generations. On TNG, Carson directed the episodes "The Enemy", "Yesterday's Enterprise", "Redemption II" and "The Next Phase". * "Emissary" parts 1 and 2 were released to home video in VHS format in the United Kingdom on August 2nd, 1993. The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episode 1: Emissary VHS edition was released in the United States on September 10th, 1996. * The mural draped in Quark's Bar is of Gul Dukat's Tholian enemy during the Cardassian occupation. * After the attack on the station, Doctor Bashir makes Odo compress a man's wound to stop it from bleeding. This scene, which does not appear in the two-part version, alludes to the 1970 film M*A*S*H, in which Rene Auberjonois's character, Father Mulcahy, is called on to do the same thing during an operation. * Final television acting work for Donald Hotton. Allusions * The Battle of Wolf 359 took place in the year 2366 on Stardate: 43997. This was during the time that Captain Jean-Luc Picard had been cybernetically assimilated by the Borg. This took place in the two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "The Best of Both Worlds". These episodes comprised the season finale of season 3 and the season premiere of season 4. The events within these episodes began in December of 2366, but concluded in January of 2367. Picard was separated from the Borg Collective on Stardate: 44001.4. * The Federation starship USS Yamaguchi, shown at the Battle of Wolf 359, is named after Yamaguchi Prefecture in Japan. Quotes * Quark: Commander, I've made a career out of knowing when to leave. And this Bajoran provisional government is far too provisional for my taste. And when governments fall, people like me are lined up and shot. .... * Commander Benjamin Sisko: It's been a long time, Captain. * Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Have we met before? * Commander Benjamin Sisko: Yes sir, we met in battle. I was on the Saratoga at Wolf 359. .... * Commander Benjamin Sisko: Is it going to happen? * Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Not easily. The ruling parties are at each other's throats. Factions that were united against the Cardassians have resumed old conflicts. * Commander Benjamin Sisko: Sounds like they're not ready. * Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Your job is to do everything, short of violating the Prime Directive, to make sure that they are. .... * Kira Nerys: You are throwing it all away... all of you! * Bajoran bureaucrat: You're being a fool! * Kira Nerys: Well, then, don't ask my opinion next time! .... * Doctor Julian Bashir: Oh, this will be perfect - real... frontier medicine! * Kira Nerys: Frontier medicine? * Doctor Julian Bashir: Major, I had my choice of any job in the Fleet. * Kira Nerys: Did you? * Doctor Julian Bashir: I didn't want some cushy job or a research grant; I wanted this - the farthest reaches of the galaxy, one of the most remote outposts available. This is where the adventure is. This is where heroes are made. Right here - in the wilderness. * Kira Nerys: This "wilderness"... is my home. .... * Commander Benjamin Sisko: It's really quite simple, Quark. You're not going to leave. * Quark: Not going to leave? But we're packed and ready to go. * Commander Benjamin Sisko: Unpack. * Quark: I don't understand, Commander. Why would you want me to stay? * Constable Odo: I'm curious myself. The man is a gambler and a thief. * Quark: I'm not a thief. * Constable Odo: You are a thief! * Quark: If I am, you haven't been able to prove it for four years. .... * Kai Opaka: Nine orbs, like this one, have appeared in the skies over the past 10,000 years. The Cardassians took the others. You must find the Celestial Temple before they do. * Commander Benjamin Sisko: The Celestial Temple? * Kai Opaka: Tradition says the orbs were sent by the Prophets to teach us. What we have learned has shaped our theology. The Cardassians will do ANYTHING to decipher their powers. If they discover the Celestial Temple... they could destroy it. * Commander Benjamin Sisko: What makes you think *I* can find your... temple? * Kai Opaka: This will help you. * Commander Benjamin Sisko: Kai Opaka, I... * Kai Opaka: I can't unite my people till I know the Prophets have been warned. You will find the temple. Not for Bajor, not for the Federation, but for your own pagh. It is quite simply, Commander, the journey you have always been destined to take. See also External Links * * "Emissary" at Wikipedia * "Emissary" at Memory Beta * "Emissary" at Memory Alpha * * * * * * * * References ---- Category:1993/Episodes Category:January, 1993/Episodes